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Long View man says alligator charged his tractor in back yard

Richard Gould

Long View police Chief Cecil Rogers prepares to put an alligator captured at a home in Long View in the town’s animal control truck on Tuesday.

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: September 16, 2009

LONG VIEW - Donnie Willis was bushhogging his field at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday when he disturbed an unwelcome visitor who charged his tractor with head high and teeth bared.

"He was coming right at the tractor — it made him mad," he said. "I started to pick him up, but I saw those teeth when he snapped at the rake."

Willis, 58, of Long View, said it was the first time he's ever seen an alligator in North Carolina and definitely the first time he'd seen one in his back yard.

"I thought he was just a lizard at first," Willis said. "I was surprised that he wasn't scared."

He didn't want to kill the animal, but, even though it measured just 3 feet 3 inches long, he didn't want it to hurt the neighborhood children.

So he held it at bay with a rake and called for reinforcements while keeping an eye out for any bigger alligators that may have wanted to protect the little guy. None appeared.

"I thought he was pulling my leg when he told me to come and see the gator and call the police," said Willis' wife, Deannie.

Willis said between 10 and 15 officers and city employees showed up to collect the alligator and take it away in Long View's animal control truck.

The officers took the animal back to the station and contacted the North Carolina Department of Wildlife, which dispatched a wildlife biologist to the scene.

Long View Police Chief Cecil Rogers said it was his city's first alligator call — at least since he joined the force 27 years ago. Rogers said the alligator was found about 100 yards from a small creek.

Rogers said he didn't know what the creek was called, but suggested "Gator Creek" might be a good name for it.

Eventually the state biologist came to collect the alligator and take it back to Raleigh.

Rogers said the biologist will euthanize the alligator because it had probably been someone's pet and cannot be released into the wild.